


far-fetched and/or far-stretched

by kevintran



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Bending, Fluff, M/M, meet cute, zuko is a yoga teacher
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:34:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26763655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kevintran/pseuds/kevintran
Summary: aang drags sokka to a yoga class ran by a coworker. sokka regrets everything until he realizes who the teacher is.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 301





	far-fetched and/or far-stretched

Sokka rubbed at his eyes as he pulled into a little strip mall parking lot. He squinted at the time on his car’s clock – 8:32 am. While contemplating the ethics of making a friend wake up before noon on a Saturday, he sluggishly gathered his belongings from the passenger seat. To say Sokka wasn’t thrilled to be there would have been an understatement. 

‘There’ being the yoga studio that Aang taught classes at. That Aang had forced him to come to.

He didn’t actually _force_ Sokka to go, of course; Aang was just trying to be a good friend. He had been asking Sokka to attend a class with him for months now. Supposedly, there were benefits to it. He vaguely remembered Aang rambling about how yoga can “improve your soul-body connection” and “create mindfulness” while filling out the online sign-up sheet. 

It wasn’t that Sokka couldn’t appreciate a good soul-body connection, it just wasn’t his _thing_. He was much more of a cardio and weights type of guy, and yoga seemed kind of unmanly if he was being honest. Not that he would tell Aang that. Or ever say it out loud at all for fear of Katara hurting him, giving him a long lecture about toxic masculinity, or some combination of the two. 

But, after an evening spent complaining about how stressful his workload currently was, Aang’s insistence that the class would help finally got to him. And besides, Aang promised to buy Sokka breakfast afterwards as a reward, so at least he knew for sure that he would be getting something good out of it

Which is how he ended up outside of the unassuming studio, far too early, with Katara’s sparkly blue yoga mat in hand. Sokka took a deep breath as he entered the building, trying to put on his best brave face in order to prepare for what was to come.

Aang, naturally, was already inside with his things set up. Sokka tried not to groan as he made his way to the front of the room and dropped his things next to his friend.

“Good morning, Sokka!” Aang greeted him with a bright smile. Sokka sometimes wondered about his sanity. “Ready to start the day off on a positive note?”

“I’ll show you a positive note,” he grumbled. Wherever Aang was buying him breakfast, Sokka decided that he would not be holding back.

“Hey, no need to be grumpy. This is a friendly and relaxed environment,” Aang said from where he sat crisscrossed on his own mat. Sokka allowed himself to grumble out one last huff of air. He was there now, so the least he could do was try to make the most out of it.

After a quick glance around, Sokka realized they were some of the first people there. Strange, he thought, considering the fact that Aang insisted he get there before the class started at 8:45.

“Hey, Aang, shouldn’t there be more people here?”

“Oh, yeah, about that,” Aang looked up sheepishly from where he sat. “I wanted to make sure you got here early to meet the teacher!”

“So, you’re telling me that I could have slept another _fifteen minutes_?” Aang held his hands up and laughed nervously. Sokka was very serious about getting this full eight (most of the time, more) hours. And, no, it wasn’t because he needed ‘beauty sleep’, despite how much Katara may tease him about it.

He rolled out the borrowed mat and took a seat. Sokka watched as a few more people trickled in. Most of them looked like any typical college student or PTA mom, but one in particular that was leaning over the water fountain managed to catch his attention.

The man had long, black hair that tumbled down his back and led Sokka’s eyes downward. Sokka was a simple man, okay? He knew it was rude to stare, but between the guy’s black tights and thin t-shirt, it was virtually impossible to tear his eyes away. 

His gaze followed the stranger as he finished filling up his water bottle and picked up his bag. Sokka was, unfortunately, close enough to see the line of his throat moving as he lifted the bottle to his lips and took a long gulp from it. Hopefully he wouldn’t pick a spot anywhere near the area Aang had chosen for them. Sokka already knew he was about to make a fool of himself the entire class, and he would rather not do it directly in front of some hot stranger.

But before Sokka could realize what was happening, said hot stranger was walking over to where he and Aang sat.

“Hey, Aang,” And _wow_ , Sokka thought, _his voice_. It was low and raspy, but somehow gentle at the same time. A wave of butterflies flew through his stomach. “Glad to see you guys could make it.”

“Hey, Zuko! Wouldn’t miss it for the world. Or, at least _I_ wouldn’t. Sokka, here, took some convincing.” Aang gave Sokka a friendly nudge with his elbow.

Wait, hold on. Zuko. He knew that name – it was the coworker that Aang was always talking about. The same one that he kept saying he wanted to bring to their Mario Kart nights and introduce Sokka to.

“Oh, so this is Sokka?” The slightest hint of a blush appeared on Zuko’s cheek. “I’ve, uh, heard a lot about you. Thanks for coming to my class today.”

 _He’s heard a lot about me_. Sokka immediately realized that Aang was doing this on purpose, and the grin on his face when Sokka glanced over confirmed it. 

“Yeah, me too,” he managed, despite the fact that Zuko had begun to tie his hair back into a ponytail, making it very hard to get the words out.

Whatever, he could deal with this. All Sokka had to do was crank up the charm and pretend like he wasn’t already going through a mental list of first date locations.

Sokka leaned back on his hands and smirked up at Zuko. “But I’m not sure about this whole yoga thing. I guess you’ll have to do some convincing, pretty boy.”

Zuko’s blush darkened. Sokka was proud of himself for it, considering the fact that it took almost all of his brain power to come up with that line. The rest of it was being used to push down the way his heartbeat picked up and ignore how his palms started to sweat.

“I guess I will,” Zuko said, glancing down at his watch. “Well, it’s almost time to start, so. I’ll go do that.”

Zuko gave a little wave and walked back up to the front of the room. As soon as he was out of earshot Sokka whipped his head around to face Aang, who was still grinning like the absolute shit he was. He grabbed a handful of Aang’s shirt and spun them around to face the back of the room.

“ _That’s_ Zuko?” Sokka whispered through his teeth. 

“Yep. What do you think?”

“I think that you did this on purpose!”

“I have no idea what you mean,” Aang said calmly, and Sokka wanted to pass away on the spot.

He should have known this would happen. Maybe if he didn’t have to wake up at such a disgusting hour to come to this class, he would have been in the right mindset to realize it was a set up in the first place.

Before Sokka could say anything else, Zuko was clearing his throat at the front of the room.

“Good morning, everyone. I’m Zuko, and I’ll be leading this beginner class today. We’re going to start sitting down, in easy pose . . . “

Sokka copied the way Zuko was sitting, crisscrossed with his hands resting on his knees. The first few were just regular seated stretches he was used to doing before workouts. It was surprisingly relaxing, and he found it easy to focus on Zuko calmly talking the class through the sequence. He would even go so far as to say he felt a little less stressed than his normal baseline amount.

The next few poses were fine. Simple, even – something about salutations and sun warriors. The ones after that started to get more complicated. Apparently, yoga is kind of hard. This was news to Sokka as fifteen minutes in, Zuko started talking about trees and tight cores and it was all downhill from there.

The most frustrating part was that he couldn’t help but appreciate how good Zuko looked. Here Sokka was, using all his strength and willpower to not fall over like a complete fool, and Zuko made it look _easy_. He did the poses calmly and carefully, never even breaking a sweat.

Sokka considered how strong Zuko must be despite his lean appearance. Sure, Sokka could bench over 250 pounds on a good day, but Zuko was a different kind of strong. He had a certain control over his own body that was just downright impressive.

After demonstrating a few more poses, one of which involved stretching his leg way higher than Sokka ever thought was physically possible, Zuko continued to talk as he paced around the class. Sokka groaned a little bit internally. With his luck, he would end up falling dramatically into Zuko’s arms like some lovesick Jane Austen character. Or, injure him in some bizarre way.

It’s right when Sokka is attempting an eagle pose when Zuko appears in front of him, holding a fist to his mouth as if he was holding back a laugh. 

“Something funny?” Sokka said through gritted teeth. He could feel a little bead of sweat roll down his forehead from exertion, or concentration, or nerves, or some combination of all three.

“Not at all,” Zuko said, sounding sincere. “Mind if I help?”

Sokka huffed out a small _fine_ and suddenly Zuko was much closer, enough so to catch a whiff of spicy-smelling shampoo and laundry detergent. Sokka pressed his lips together and tried to make his breathing even out.

“Is it alright if I touch you?” Zuko asked. Sokka snapped out of his thoughts, eyes going a little wide. Obviously, he knew Zuko meant this in a completely professional and yoga teacher-y way, but that didn’t mean the double entendre was lost on him.

“Uh,” Sokka could feel his face heating up. “Yep. Totally fine.”

Zuko placed a hand on his shoulder, gently pushing it up and back. Sokka did his best to straighten up, but all it did was throw off his balance even more.

“Try to stretch out your spine. If you do that and then tighten up here,” Zuko moved his hand to rest lightly over Sokka’s stomach for clarification, “then you shouldn’t tip over.”

Sokka felt his face grow even hotter as he realized his mouth was open. He shut it quickly so he wouldn’t drool all over himself, or do anything equally as embarrassing. Had Zuko said something? No thoughts were happening in his brain other than _cute_ and _boy_ and _hands_.

“.. What?” He replied eloquently. Zuko ducked his head and smiled. 

“Tighten up your core. You know, squeeze your abs. It helps your balance,” Zuko’s hand was still resting carefully over Sokka’s stomach. Just enough to feel the warmth of it through the loose tank top he was wearing. “Doesn’t seem like it should be too much of a problem for you.”

Sokka let out a laugh that was maybe a little too loud and obnoxious. No way Zuko was actually flirting with him right now, he had to be imagining it. He probably complimented all of his students like that.

Pushing the thought away, Sokka attempted to focus on the advice that Zuko was so kindly giving him in that moment. It was his whole job after all, he must know what he was talking about.

He squeezed his stomach and side muscles like Zuko said and tried to make his shoulders and hips align. Despite the fact that he was only standing on one foot, the adjustment worked. 

“Wow, uh. Thanks, that actually helped,” he looked back to Zuko, who was pulling his hand back. Sokka wished he could let it stay there the whole class.

“No problem,” Zuko nodded and moved on to the next student, leaving Sokka in the aftermath of whatever _that_ was.

Now was probably not the best time to have a complete meltdown, so Sokka decided to stare at the space ahead of him and attempt to make the blush on his cheeks fade. The stifled laughs coming from Aang were not helping, either.

“Come on, you wanted this to happen,” Sokka hissed at his friend. Aang responded with a finger to his lips and a _shh_ as he continued to grin to himself.

Sokka tried to reach a hand over to shove him, but with not much luck. All he did was manage to throw himself off balance again and stumble over his feet. Sighing, Sokka tried to collect himself. He had already resigned himself to the fact that there was no way he was leaving with any of his dignity intact, anyways.

By the time Zuko ended the class by having everyone lie down and close their eyes, Sokka was starting to feel more and more nervous. Aang would surely make them talk to Zuko once the class ended, and what was he supposed to say? All of his go-to pick up lines seemed too rude or not funny enough. Besides, he wanted to actually impress Zuko, not make him lose interest over a cheesy one-liner.

Sokka stood and began to roll up his mat as Zuko talked to some of the others that had attended, bidding each one goodbye with a little bow. He couldn’t help but wonder if Zuko was thinking of anyone specific when he said that he hoped they would all be returning.

“All right, buddy,” Sokka began, mat tucked under his arm. Time to make a quick escape. “I’ll admit, that was refreshing. But I do believe that you owe me a breakfast.”

“Oh, yeah!” Aang replied. “But we should probably stay and help Zuko clean up.”

Sokka looked around the room. It was empty despite a few mats lying around here or there. He looked back at Aang and squinted his eyes suspiciously.

“I hate you sometimes.”

Sokka reluctantly helped Aang gather some of the studio-provided mats and deposit them in the front of the room. After Zuko bid adieu to the last person, he quietly walked over and began to spray them down with disinfectant.

“Thanks for helping, guys, but you really don’t have to,” Zuko said appreciatively.

“It’s no problem! Besides, I’m sure Sokka wants to give you his review of the class,” Aang said with a sly grin, looking dramatically to where Sokka had been bending down to pick up another mat. If he didn’t love the guy so much, Sokka would have ended him right then and there.

“Thanks, Aang,” He dropped the mat at the front of his room and brushed his hands off together. “I can’t lie, I was a little skeptical of this whole thing.” 

Zuko raised an eyebrow at him. “Really? I couldn’t tell.”

“Hey!” Sokka crossed his arms across his chest, intentionally flexing his biceps a little. “Do you want my yelp review or not? I was going to give you five stars, but I will gladly take all of them back.”

Zuko raised his hands in defense. “My bad, please continue.”

“Thank you,” Sokka said, trying to sound offended. It wasn’t very convincing. “Well, it wasn’t my preferred workout, but I did enjoy it. It helped that the teacher was so knowledgeable.”

Zuko smiled at that. Sokka decided that it would be his mission to see that smile as often as he could. 

“Then I hope you’ll come back for another class sometime. I bet, I don’t know, two or three or twenty more and maybe you’ll start to get the hang of it.”

“Wow! I thought as a teacher you were supposed to be encouraging?” Sokka still couldn’t believe how blatantly Zuko was flirting with him. He couldn’t lie, it was inflating his already large ego a bit.

“It’s called tough love. A very effective teaching method, actually.”

“Uh-huh, sure,” Sokka scratched at the back of his neck, glancing over at Aang, who was watching their interaction with a raised eyebrow. “Well, I’m sure you have other important things to get back to. Wouldn’t want to hold you up.”

Sokka wondered if he imagined it, but he was pretty sure Zuko’s smile faltered. He considered asking for Zuko’s number, but he didn’t want to make the guy uncomfortable. He did seem to be flirting back. Sokka just didn’t want to put him in an awkward position by asking him at his place of work. He’d been on the receiving end of that far too many times to put someone else through it.

“Wait,” Zuko grabbed Sokka by the bicep lightly before he could turn to the door. “Um, do you want my number?”

Sokka’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. No way he heard that right. “Huh?”

“My number, do you want it,” Zuko tugged at his ponytail. “So I can, you know, let you know about upcoming classes. And stuff.”

“And stuff,” Sokka repeated. He ignored Aang’s snickers coming from behind his shoulder. 

“If you don’t want it then it’s fine! No pressure. Just thought I’d – “ Before Zuko could finish, Sokka had already retrieved his phone from his pocket and was shoving it into Zuko’s hands.

“Only for the ‘and stuff’. Yoga classes are nice and all, but I’d prefer to never get up this early on a Saturday ever again.”

The corner of Zuko’s mouth quirked up a little as he typed his number into Sokka’s phone.

“Well, then, Zuko,” Sokka tried the name out, just to see how it would feel. Sokka wasn’t sure what the feeling was, exactly, but it was definitely good. “I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah, you will,” Zuko replied. 

“Alright, come on,” Aang grabbed Sokka by the arm and pulled him out the door, throwing a quick “Bye, Zuko! See you Monday,” over his shoulder as he went. 

Sokka stole one last glance before Aang pushed him out of the building. Zuko was smiling to himself as he sprayed down the rest of the mats. He did a tally in his head as they walked towards their respective cars: a free breakfast, a cute guy’s number, and, though he wouldn’t admit it to Aang, he did actually enjoy the class. Overall, Sokka counted the morning as a success.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm back with my zukka fic of the month. thanks for reading if you made it this far :)
> 
> shoutout to Ben (earringsokka on Tumblr!) for beta-reading! you are my knight in shining armor.
> 
> follow me on Tumblr @billycaplans if that's your thing!


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